My wife and I went here one day for lunch on a whim. I was excited. Long had I wandered past the Lorenzkirche and looked across the plaza to the outdoor seating of Chillis and wondered what it was like. This was my chance to find out.
We immediately went upstairs and were...lost. Not greeted. It was only when my wife went to find someone did we learn we could sit anywhere. So we went outside and sat on the balcony. As we walked to our seats it occurred to me that Chillis was once a beautiful apartment overlooking Lorenzplatz and the Lorenzkirche. Those floor-to-ceiling windows you walk through to get to the outdoor seating on the balcony must have looked wonderful in the living room (which is now the main dining room).
My wife ordered a rack of ribs. I ordered a salad. We ordered drinks. Our drinks arrived promptly. Our food...did not, and our time of waiting began. We waited, and waited, and continued waiting as we watched people who sat down after us get their food before us. I wondered if the Chilis staff needed to track down a pig for my wife's ribs. We kept waiting.
Then, like manna coming from heaven to feed the Hebrews after years of wandering in the wilderness, our food arrived. But, in stark contrast to the heavenly manna, there was a problem. The menu said that a side salad was included with every main entree. So, my wife should have gotten one with her ribs. She had not. We waited for our server to return, but she did not, no doubt lost in thought reminiscing on what a beautiful apartment this must have once been. She eventually returned, and my wife told her of the missing side salad.
To our surprise, our waitress told us we were wrong. The ribs did not come with one. They already came with a side--coleslaw. In the Grand Chillis Matrix of Side Dishes, this somehow made sense. We pointed out that the menu said "ALL main entrees come with a side salad," but to no avail. We were wrong. After some back and forth and much gesticulating with the menus, the server relented and decided to give us what the menu said we should have received anyway. Our side salad was coming.
We waited.
Then the side salad came, and lo, it was EXACTLY THE SAME AS MY MAIN SALAD, for which I paid 11 euros, minus the shrimp. My underwhelming, unremarkable, uncreative "mexican" salad with some over-greasy shrimp on top was materially the same, in both ingredients AND portion size, as my wife's free side salad. We ate our slop in silence, angry that we had to pay for this. Then we finished, and waited for our waitress to stop by so we could get the check.
We waited. And waited. And waited. I considered throwing myself from the balcony to stop the waiting, confident that my proximity to a cathedral would ensure my salvation. Then my wife decided to go on a scavenger hunt inside the restaurant for our waitress.
She failed to find her. So we found someone, pointed to our table, and paid.
Avoid this place at all costs. It is a horrendous rip-off of Chilis, replete with the similar menu, decor, and homophone-for-a-name that is generally a herald of Chinese intellectual property law violations. It was once a beautiful apartment. Now a terrible restaurant. Do us all a favor and only go here if you plan a hostile takeover that will result in transforming it back into a beautiful apartment. read more
